In preparing for the Fire Protection P.E. Exam, I felt a overwhelmed. There were over 6,000 pages of material to review and an array of calculations I needed to understand on topics which I didn't have experience. I struggled initially even to find what review material existed, much less to find quality review materials to prepare for the exam.

All I really wanted was to know what helpful material existed and what was critical for the exam. For three months I delayed even doing practice problems and instead scoured all of the required references to create a comprehensive cheatsheet that I could use as a table of contents/quick reference/formula sheet to save time on the exam itself (this later became the beginnings of the PE Prep Guide).

After taking the exam, I quickly realized that our fire protection niche has left many others with that same feeling of having to blaze their own trail to study for the exam. MeyerFire.com was built to combat that struggle by (1) identifying what helpful material exists, (2) building a community for collaboration, and (3) to save you very precious time in preparing and taking the exam. This site exits specifically to help you.​

I am PE in another discipline. I've also passed the CFPS exam. I've been working for an MEP consulting engineering firm in charge of fire protection design (mostly sprinkler/standpipe, clean agent system and fire alarm system designs) for almost 10 years now. I've found the fire protection work to be very interesting. My question is (being 45 years old) should I take the FPE Exam to further my expertise.

Personally, I've found there to be a great benefit to the FP-specific PE License. In just studying for the exam alone I was forced to broaden my understanding for topics that I didn't originally deal in (such as egress, explosion prevention and protection, and passive fire protection). That experience has been great.

Also, some agencies now require a PE who is specifically licensed in fire protection to engineer their systems. Specifically, military work under UFC 3-600-01 and projects involving fire sprinkler systems within the State of Illinois require an FPE. I could see more movement in this direction in the future.

Just my two cents, but I think pursuing the fire protection-specific exam would benefit in ways other than the specific license if you were up for studying and taking the exam.

Reply

Mike

7/19/2017 07:48:02 pm

Good points Joe..Just doing the daily problems has expanded my understanding of FP engineering. The more I get into the various aspects, the more I want to tackle. Unfortunately, the way my office is structured, I do the sprinkler and special hazard systems, and our electrical engineers do the fire alarm side. I'd rather do both as the systems are integrated and should be designed as a whole.

I have heard some states are requiring FPE's for sprinkler designs. I have no issue studying and taking another exam.